St Petersburg: Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered New Delhi Russia’s fifth-generation stealth aircraft Sukhoi Su-57 and even suggested that the combat jet could even be jointly produced in India in line with the strong strategic partnership between the two countries.
For decades, Russia has served as India’s primary defence supplier. However, persistent supply chain disruptions and delivery delays stemming from the war in Ukraine have forced New Delhi to aggressively diversify its military procurement strategy.
After a years-long search for a fifth-generation fighter jet, India has launched its ambitious Advanced Multirole Combat Aircraft (AMCA) project, widely regarded as the nation’s largest indigenous aerospace programme.
In an interaction with heads of leading global news agencies, including PTI Thursday night, Putin delving into various aspects of India-Russia defence and military ties, said Moscow is still keen to involve New Delhi in the Su-57 aircraft programme.
“As for the Su-57, we offered our friends from India to jointly develop this machine, a fifth-generation aircraft. I think it’s the best to date. But our Indian friends said, ‘well, let’s see’,” he said, responding to a question from PTI’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Vijay Joshi, the only Indian journalist at the interaction.
“In principle, this could have been our (Russia-India) product. We made it independently. And we are ready to work with India. To work and develop. There will be no restrictions whatsoever,” he said.
It is learnt that New Delhi has not yet completely closed its doors on the Russian offer, as state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is in touch with the Sukhoi Design Bureau, the manufacturer of the jet, for possible collaboration.
As the aircraft under the AMCA project is unlikely to join the Indian Air Force (IAF) before 2035, the government is considering the procurement of at least two squadrons (around 36) of Su-57s, provided they fulfil the technical specifications.
India and Russia were in talks for joint development and production of a fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) for close to 15 years. However, in 2021, India conveyed to Russia its unwillingness to go ahead with it primarily due to the high cost involved in the project. The cost was estimated at around USD 30 billion or Rs 2 lakh crore.
In his remarks, Putin also expressed Russia’s willingness to join hands with India in development of other critical platforms including integrated air defence systems.
“The same goes for the air defence system,” he said, explaining that Russia is ready to work with India on air defence systems and related hardware.
India is developing an indigenous air defence system called “Sudarshan Chakra” and Russian-origin S-400 missile systems are set to be its one of the key components.
In October 2018, India signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, notwithstanding a warning by the US that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions under the provisions of Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
The fifth squadron is yet to be delivered.
The S-400 systems played a crucial role during Operation Sindoor.
In March, New Delhi cleared the procurement of a fresh batch of five S-400 missile systems from Russia that will take the total number to 10.
Leading military think-tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in March said India was the world’s second largest importer of arms and military hardware from 2021 to 25 and the largest chunk of the imports came from Russia.
In New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, responding to a question on Putin’s remarks on Su-57, said India-Russia defence ties are strong.
“You mentioned the Su-57; The defence ties between India and Russia are strong. For this programme, you will be able to get specific details from the Ministry of Defence,” he said.
